White Montgomery Cop Arrested In Shooting Death of Black Man

In Montgomery, a white Alabama was arrested after killing a 58 yrs. old black man last week, announced the district attorney.

Daryl Bailey, Montgomery County District Attorney announced that the 23-year-old Aaron Smith who was a Montgomery County cop had been “arrested for crime of murder” of Gregory Gunn on February, 25. Aaron Smith, who has been on force since the yr. 2012, was, however soon released on a $150,000 bond.

“As district attorney I will do everything in my power to protect a police officer who is operating within the law,” said Bailey at a news conference while announcing Smith’s arrest. “I will also use every ounce of my power to prosecute a police officer who is operating outside of the law.”

Bailey declined to detail what evidence led to that conclusion, but the investigators and his office agreed that there was “probable cause” to arrest Aaron Smith for the murder,

The investigation of incident remained continued, Bailey said, but once it is complete, the grand jury will ultimately make the decision of whether or not to indict Smith.

“In the history of Montgomery, this is not one of our great days,” said Mayor Todd Strange in a news conference. He also promised a transparent investigation into the matter.

The full details of what exactly happened when Smith shot Gunn to death remain unclear. Police said that Smith appeared to have gotten suspicious and stopped Gunn, who was walking home after playing a regular card game with friends. The Officials say that Smith confronted Gunn, stepping out his patrol car. Both men struggled and ended with Smith firing multiple shots at Gunn.

Police initially thought that Gunn was holding an object, a stick that could have been a weapon, which was denied by Gunn’s brother, Mr. Franklin.

“I know he was racially profiled,” told Franklin Gunn. “They thought he was a low-life nothing, walking the street. They saw somebody who needed to die, and they executed him.”

Smith’s attorney, Mickey McDermott condemned the arrest as “political” and denied that the shooting can be racially motivated. He also said that Smith used “appropriate deadly force to protect himself & this community,”

Smith got arrested after days of protests in Montgomery over shooting & public demands for Smith’s arrest.

Gunn’s family said that they simply want justice delivered and that they intended to hold local and state authorities to “the highest levels of accountability” to facilitate that.